Cooking appliances, and in particular electric cooking/grilling devices such as griddles, are known. One type of known grilling devices typically evidences a lower housing having a lower cooking surface and an upper housing having an upper cooking surface, wherein the cooking surfaces are typically heated by an electrical resistance heater. A handle attached to the upper housing allows a user to raise and lower the upper housing relative to the lower housing to accommodate a food item therebetween to be heated.
While existing grilling devices are generally suitable for what is regarded as ordinary performance, there is room for improvement in terms of convenience and cleanliness. As will be readily appreciated, splatter is relatively common when cooking food items at high temperature, particularly food items that contain a degree of water, oil or other fluids. With existing grilling devices, this splatter can create objectionable messes on the surfaces surrounding the device. Accordingly, there is a need for a cooking appliance that is capable of containing splatter during cooking.